Charleston shooting

Charleston shooting

A white man opened fire in a historic black church, in Charleston, South Carolina the night of June 17, 2015, killing nine people, including a pastor, during a prayer meeting. The suspect, Dylann Roof, was arrested in North Carolina and extradited to South Carolina June 18, 2015 for what authorities are calling a hate crime.

Roof was charged with nine counts of murder and one count possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime. All felony charges.

Here, worshippers embrace following a group prayer across the street from the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, the scene of the shooting on June 17, 2015.

Credit: David Goldman/AP

Dylann Roof bail hearing

Dylann Roof appears by closed-circuit television at his bond hearing in Charleston, South Carolina June 19, 2015 in a still image from video. Roof's bail was set at $1 million.

Credit: Pool/Reuters

Dylann Roof bail hearing

Dylann Roof appears by closed-circuit television at his bond hearing before Chief Magistrate James Gosnell (R) in Charleston, South Carolina on June 19, 2015 in a still image from video.

Credit: Pool/Reuters

Charleston prayer vigil

Photographs of the nine South Carolina victims from the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina are held up by congregants during a prayer vigil at the the Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, D.C. on June 19, 2015.

Credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images

Charleston prayer vigil

Congregants hold hands during a prayer vigil for the nine victims killed at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina at the the Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, D.C. June 19, 2015.

Credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images

Charleston prayer vigil

Congregants hold hands during a prayer vigil for the nine victims killed at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina at the the Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, D.C. June 19, 2015.

Credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images

Charleston prayer vigil

Photographs of the nine South Carolina victims from the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina are held up by congregants during a prayer vigil at the the Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, D.C. on June 19, 2015.

Credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images

Charleston shooting

Gary and Aurelia Washington, center left and right, the son and granddaughter of Ethel Lance who died in the June 17, 2015 shooting, leave a sidewalk memorial in front of Emanuel AME Church, comforted by fellow family members, June 18, 2015 in Charleston, South Carolina.

Credit: David Goldman/AP

Charleston vigil

Mourners gather at Marion Square for a candlelight vigil on June 18, 2015 near the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Credit: Stephen B. Morton/AP

Dylann Roof

This handout photo, provided by the Charleston County Sheriff's Office Detention Center, shows Dylann Roof's booking photos after he was apprehended June 18, 2015 as the main suspect in the mass shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church the night of June 17, 2015.

Credit: Handout, Getty Images

Dylann Roof

Police lead suspected shooter Dylann Roof, 21, into the courthouse in Shelby, North Carolina, June 18, 2015.

Roof, a 21-year-old with a criminal record, is accused of killing nine people at the a historic African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina, in an attack U.S. officials are investigating as a hate crime.

Credit: Jason Miczek/Reuters

Confederate flag

The South Carolina and American flags fly at half-staff June 18, 2015 atop the statehouse in Columbia, South Carolina, in honor of the nine people killed in Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, as the Confederate flag flies at full-staff at the Confederate Monument.

At the behest of South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, the statehouse flags will remain at half staff for nine days to honor the nine killed. According to the Washington Post, the governor doesn't have legal authority over the Confederate flag; it can't be changed without the authority of the General Assembly. The Confederate flag is legally protected by the 2000 South Carolina Heritage Act.

The Confederate flag has been an issue for many years in South Carolina with many seeing it as a symbol of Southern pride and many others as one of slavery and oppression.

Credit: Sean Rayford/Getty Images

Charleston memorial

Bystanders and mourners cast shadows on the walls and the makeshift memorial at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina June 18, 2015, a day after a mass shooting left nine dead during a bible study at the church.

Credit: Brian Snyder/Reuters

Charleston prayer vigil

People hold hands during a community prayer service June 18, 2015 at Second Presbyterian Church for the nine victims of the previous night's shooting at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Charleston prayer vigil

The Rev. John Hage (R) embraces the Rev. Sidney Davis outside the historic Emanuel AME Church June 18, 2015, one day after the killing of nine churchgoers, including Pastor Clementa Pinckney in Charleston, South Carolina.

Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Charleston prayer vigil

People sit on the steps of Morris Brown AME Church while services are held June 18, 2015 in Charleston, South Carolina.

Credit: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

Charleston prayer vigil

Mourners pray and prepare to lay flowers during a community service June 18, 2015 for the nine victims of the previous night's shooting at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Charleston prayer vigil

The congregation holds hands during a prayer service for the June 17, 2015 shooting victims held at the Morris Brown AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, June 18, 2015.

Credit: Randall Hill/Reuters

Charleston prayer vigil

A capacity crowd fills the pews during a prayer service for the June 17, 2015 shooting victims held at the Morris Brown AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, June 18, 2015.

Credit: Randall Hill/Reuters

Governor Nikki Haley

Governor Nikki Haley addresses a full church during a prayer vigil June 18, 2015 held at Morris Brown AME Church for the victims of the June 17, 2015 shooting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Credit: Grace Beahm/The Post And Courier via AP

Charleston prayer vigil

Members of the congregation at the Morris Brown AME Church react during a prayer service for the June 17, 2015 shooting victims in Charleston, South Carolina, June 18, 2015

Credit: Randall Hill/Reuters

South Carolina shooting

Daniel Flessas lays flowers in front of Emanuel AME Church on June 18, 2015 in Charleston, South Carolina.

Nine people were killed on June 17 in a mass shooting during a prayer meeting at the church. A 21-year-old suspect, Dylann Roof of Lexington, South Carolina, was arrested June 18 in North Carolina.

Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Charleston shooting

Mourners Ashley Edge (L) and Brad Hutchinson hold one another outside the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina June 18, 2015, a day after a mass shooting left nine dead who were in a bible study at the church.

The Reverend Clementa Pinckney, the church's pastor listed on the board, was one of the victims.

Credit: Brian Snyder/Reuters

Charleston shooting

Mourners hold hands as they pause outside Morris Brown AME Church during a vigil the day after a mass shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, June 18, 2015.

Credit: Brian Snyder/Reuters

Charleston shooting

Mourners stand outside Morris Brown AME Church paying their respects June 18, 2015 during a vigil the day after a mass shooting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina,

Credit: Brian Snyder/Reuters

Charleston shooting

Chaplain James St. John, center, leads senators in prayer, June 18, 2015, at the Statehouse in Columbia, South Carolina.

State Senator Clementa Pinckney was one of those killed the day before, June 17, 2015, in a shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. Pinckney was the pastor of the church.

Credit: Rainier Ehrhardt/AP

Pinckney's seat in statehouse

The desk of S.C. Sen. Clementa Pinckney is draped in black cloth with a single rose and vase in an empty chamber prior to a Senate session on June 18, 2015 at the Statehouse in Columbia, South Carolina.

Pinckney was killed the day before on June 17, 2015, in a shooting at a historic black church in Charleston.

Credit: Rainier Ehrhardt, AP

Charleston shooting

At the statehouse in Columbia on June 18, 2015, State Senator Vincent Sheheen (D-Kershaw) is emotional as he sits next to the draped desk of state Senator Clementa Pinckney, who was killed in the mass shooting at Emanuel AME Church June 17, 2015 in Charleston, South Carolina.

Credit: Rainier Ehrhardt/AP

Clementa Pinckney

State Senator Clementa Pinckney, 41, pastor of the Emanuel AME Church, was among the victims of the shooting that took 9 lives on June 17, 2015.

Pinckney became the pastor of the church at 26 years-old in 2010, leading the Bible studies and prayer meetings as part of his church duties. At 23, Pinckney became the youngest African-American to be elected to the South Carolina legislature.

Credit: CBS News

Charleston shooting

On June 18, 2015, a woman puts flowers alongside ribbons bearing the names of the victims of a mass shooting at the Emanuel AME Church that left nine dead in Charleston, South Carolina the previous night.

Credit: Brian Snyder/Reuters

Charleston shooting

People pay their respects at a roadside memorial June 18, 2015 near Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church the morning after a mass shooting in Charleston, South Carolina.

Credit: Brian Snyder/Reuters

Congressional prayer circle

Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) (2ndL) prays alongside Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) (L), Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) (3rdL) and other members of the U.S. House of Representatives and members of the U.S. Senate during a prayer circle June 18, 2015 in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. to honor those gunned down the previous night inside the historic Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Obama on Charleston shooting

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks, with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden at his side, about the shooting deaths of nine people at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17, 2015, from the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., June 18, 2015.

Credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Dylann Roof

Photo of Dylann Roof, 21, who has been identified by authorities as the suspected shooter who killed nine people, including the pastor, inside a historic black church in Charleston on June 17, 2015.

In this photo, Roof is seen wearing a jacket with the flag of apartheid-era South Africa (top) and the flag of Rhodesia, when under white rule. Zimbabwe was formerly called Rhodesia. The flags have been adopted as symbols of white supremacy.

Credit: via Facebook

Dylann Roof's home

The home at the last known address of Dylann Roof, the 21-year-old suspect in the fatal shooting of nine people inside Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, sits on Garners Ferry Road on June 18, 2015 in Eastover, South Carolina. Roof was apprehended in Shelby, North Carolina 14 hours after the mass shooting at Emanuel AME Church.

Credit: Sean Rayford/Getty Images

Charleston shooting

Images on a flier provided to media on June 18, 2015, by the Charleston Police Department show surveillance footage of a suspect wanted in connection with a shooting June 17 at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C.

Credit: Charleston Police Department/AP

Dylann Roof

This photo shared by a friend on Facebook shows Dylann Roof with the car and license plate "Confederate States of America," that police were looking for.

The friend who shared the photo wrote, "this is what u need to be on the lookout for... thats his car and him... No i don't know were he is... N NO i don't talk to him... Thanks."

Credit: via Facebook

"Mother Emanuel"

The Emanuel AME Church on June 18, 2015 in Charleston, South Carolina.

The Emanuel African Methodist (AME) Church is the oldest AME church in the South and is often referred to as "Mother Emanuel," according to the church website.

In 1833, the historic church was investigated for its involvement with a planned slave revolt. Denmark Vesey, one of the church's founders, was hanged for organizing a slave uprising in Charleston.

Credit: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

"Mother Emanuel"

This image from the Emanuel AME Church's official website showing the wooden two-story church that was built on the present site in 1872, which was destroyed by an earthquake in August of 1886. Construction finished on the current church in 1891.

Credit: Emanuel AME Church

Emanuel AME Church

An undated photo of church members posing outside Emanuel AME Church from the church's official website.

All black churches were outlawed in 1834, which forced the congregation to worship underground until 1865. At that time, the church was formally reorganized and the name Emanuel adopted.

Charleston shooting

Charleston police man a barricade behind the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, June 18, 2015.

Credit: Randall Hill/Reuters

Charleston shooting

Lisa Doctor joins a prayer circle down the street from the Emanuel AME Church early Thursday, June 18, 2015 following a shooting the night before in Charleston, S.C.

Credit: David Goldman/AP

Charleston shooting

Man kneels across the street from where police gathered outside Emanuel AME Church following shooting on night of June 17, 2015, in Charleston, South Carolina.

Credit: AP

Charleston shooting

Surreace Cox, of North Charleston, South Carolina holds a sign during a prayer vigil down the street from the Emanuel AME Church early on June 18, 2015, following a shooting the night before in Charleston.

Credit: David Goldman/AP

Charleston shooting

People concerned about relatives seek information from police near the scene of a shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, June 17, 2015.

Credit: Randall Hill/Reuters

Charleston shooting

A man reacts while talking to a police officer near the the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, June 17, 2015.

A gunman opened fire on late on June 17 at the historic African-American church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina.

Credit: Randall Hill/Reuters

Charleston shooting

Worshippers gather to pray down the street from the Emanuel AME Church following a shooting in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17, 2015.

Credit: David Goldman/AP

Charleston shooting

Police close off a section of Calhoun Street near the Emanuel AME Church following a shooting Wednesday, June 17, 2015, in Charleston, South Carolina.

Credit: David Goldman/AP

Charleston shooting

Police respond to a shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina June 17, 2015.

A gunman opened fire at night on June 17 at the historic African-American church in downtown Charleston, a U.S. police official said.